Today at 3:00 p.m. ET the Arizona Wildcats (28-3, 15-3 PAC-12) will try to ensure they keep themselves favorites to earn a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament by advancing in the conference tournament against the Utah Utes (21-10, 9-9 PAC-12) who will likely need to win this tourney to make the Big Dance. Live stream the game by clicking this link. Arizona fans can hear the game on 1290 AM The Source, while Utes fans can find the radio broadcast on ESPN 700.
The concern for 'Zona today in the quarterfinals is losing their hunger during the game since a top seed is nearly assured. In their regular season finale Oregon raced by them in the second half to pull off a major upset.
"They were highly motivated," Arizona head coach Sean Miller said. "With that, we had to play at our best and we didn't." Utah will be every bit as hungry today with their at-large bid hopes hanging on by the slimmest of threads.
"There will be a lot of anticipation for it, and here we are, as we have been in the previous games against them, the underdog," Utah coach Larry Krystkowiak said. "So I like that element. I don't have nearly the nervous feeling that I maybe had leading into this game, and hopefully our guys are feeling the same thing."
Freshman forward Aaron Gordon is the focus during just about every game Arizona plays, for good reason, but junior guard Nick Johnson can't be ignored as the Wildcats' leading scorer at 16.1 points per game. He's hitting 44 percent of his shots from the field, and nailing 38 percent from 3-point range. Gordon earned Pac-12 Freshman of the Year honors, but Johnson was the conference Player of the Year.
The Utes are led by senior guard Delon Wright, who matches Johnson's 16.1 ppg.
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